In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners. Jonathan Miller
Atheism works if you are a fat and happy educated Westerner with plenty of time on your hands and a bank balance that allows you to spend time pondering your own naval and the universe. No God, no hope. Jo O’Bryan, London, letter cited Professor Richard Dawkins, interview Have Your Say
All thinking men are atheists. Ernest Hemingway
It amazes me to find an intelligent person who fights against something which he does not at all believe exists. Mohandas Gandhi
Shouldn’t atheists have an equal obligation to explain pleasure in a world of randomness? Where does pleasure come from? G K Chesterton
If there were no God, there would be no atheists. G K Chesterton
Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist. C S Lewis
A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere – ‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says. ‘Fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous. C S Lewis
A creature revolting against a creator is revolting against the source of his own powers – including even his power to revolt ... It is like the scent of a flower trying to destroy the flower. C S Lewis
My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course, I could have given up my idea of justice by saying that it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too – for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist – in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless – I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality – namely my idea of justice – was full of sense. Consequently, atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning. C S Lewis
There’s something in every atheist, itching to believe, and something in every believer, itching to doubt. Mignon McLaughlin
We find the most terrible form of atheism, not in the militant and passionate struggle against the idea of God himself, but in the practical atheism of everyday living, in indifference and torpor. We often encounter these forms of atheism among those who are formally Christians. Nikolai Berdyaev
Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God. Tom Stoppard
If atheism spreads, it would become a religion as intolerable as the ancient ones. Gustave le Bon
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God. Simone Weil
The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful, and has nobody to thank. Dante Gabriel Rossetti
By night an atheist half-believes in God. Edward Young
Humanism or atheism is a wonderful philosophy of life as long as you are big, strong, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. But watch out if you are in a lifeboat and there are others who are younger, bigger, or smarter. William Murray
Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behaviour. Vox Day
I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God. Abraham Lincoln
To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, ‘I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge’. Ravi Zacharias
A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. Francis Bacon
A very good argument against atheists is that there aren’t any. Simon Schaffer, historian
[Thomas] Hobbes lays the ground for atheism partly because he is what philosophers call a monist. There is only one kind of stuff in the world which is matter. And it’s the matter that we see and feel and sense and touch. And there is nothing else. Simon Schaffer
The stupid and ignorant who have never made any just use of their natural reason to discover the plainest and most obvious truths; by vicious and degenerate life corrupt the principles of their nature and are resolved not to harken to any reasoning: the only atheistical persons to whom the present discourse can be supposed to be directed or who are indeed capable of being reasoned with at all. Samuel Clarke, lecture Royal Society
If we go back to the beginning we shall find that ignorance and fear created the gods. That fancy, enthusiasm or deceit adorned them, that weakness worships them, that credulity preserves them, and that custom, respect and tyranny support them in order to make the blindness of men serve their own interests. Baron d’Holbach
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female atheist talks you dead. Samuel Johnson, London, 1738
Being seven means you’ve reached the of reason and you’re now capable of committing any and all sins against God and man ... God will start keeping notes on you and begin your permanent record. Julia Sweeney, Letting Go of God, Julia’s dad
Two Mormon missionaries came to my door ... From Jerusalem to America by boat in 600 B.C.? ibid.
After Jesus died on the Cross for our sins on his way up to heaven he stopped by America and visited the Nephites. ibid.
What kind of sadistic test of loyalty is that to ask someone to kill his or her own child! ibid.
Jesus was much angrier than I expected him to be. ibid.
The Bible gives advice on how you should keep your slaves. ibid.
That’s right: Jesus condemns a fig tree to death. ibid.
I left the church [Mormons] thinking, Is this one practical joke? ibid.
My first call from my mother was more of a scream. ‘Atheist! ATHEIST!’
My dad called and said, ‘You have betrayed your family, your school, your city.’ It was like I had sold secrets to the Russians. They both said they weren’t going to talk to me any more. My dad said, ‘I don’t even want you to come to my funeral.’ After I hung up, I thought, ‘Just try and stop me.’ ibid.
My mother said, Julie, I just ignore what I don’t like. ibid.
To suffer and die for our sins – why? ibid.
Why would God create people so imperfect than blame them for their own imperfections? ibid.
So God gave us the gifts of intelligence and curiosity and rationality and then we’re not supposed to use them? ibid.
I just didn’t believe in any of it. ibid.
It’s because I take you seriously that I can’t bring myself to belief in you. ibid.
For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. Charles Bukowski
Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature. Emmett F Fields